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View Full Version : The "Clear sky" theory (Dealing with the mood of a game)


Justin Oaksford
07-24-2006, 09:05 PM
Hey. I know I've been really active with posting topics and such. But I like to give input.

From what I've seen of the conceptart, it's got a very 'post-apocolyptic', depressive mood (the game, that is.) Halo kind of has the same thing going on, there is a very depressed mood to alot of the environments. And there is something that I noticed recently, looking at the "Aion" screenshots, and after playing half-life 2.

I don't know how all your personal tastes are, but I have found I enjoy playing games that are more "uplifting" than they are "depressing" (Not talking about dialouge or characters or any of that- talking about just the mood of the game.). A big factor is both color usage, and emphasis placed on the environment. I remember escaping from City-17 in HL2 on an Airboat... you are running for your life, but the sky is very peaceful and nice, and there is alot of nice looking scenerey despite the chaos going on in the world. In Aion, from what I saw, also had the calm, "Clear sky" mood going on. Alot of it I think also has to do with how well the environments are done.
There is a "fog" that makes things farther away look paler, and slightly more blue-ish.
I don't believe WoW has that, but I could be wrong. I'm basing it off this screenshot:
http://bonetracker.dk/wow/WoWScrnShot_110704_222749.jpg

And if you look back at Aion for a bit, you'll see that the environments in that and Guild Wars, compared with those in WoW are amazingly different. Though I also think it's beyond that distance fog- it's also about the colors. In Aion, the enviroment colors look fairly saturated, and the characters, slightly less so.


I started rambling and totally lost my train of thought... but the original question I was posing was,

Is Kaos War going to have the sort of Depressive mood? The "end-of-the-world" type thing? Or is it going to have the uplifting feeling like in Guild Wars/Aion, the "This world is so beautiful!" feeling?
Because I think with "Next-gen" stuff coming out all the time, more emphasis is placed on a character, and less on the mood and environments (or so I have observed.) I would personally rather have a sort of bad looking character in a beautiful, believable environment, than a super detailed, 99992929 polygon character in a pretty crappy world.

I saw that one lighting test btw, that looked really awesome!

Robert_Lewis
07-24-2006, 09:37 PM
Don't worry our world will contain plenty of beauty. Parts of the world may be uplifting and other parts depressing, as you put it. It’s the summation of the experience as a whole that will define your mood. I know what you mean about Guild Wars but even that game had parts that where depressed feeling :)

Aion is just FarCry with normal mapping and specular removed…. I think I even saw some FarCry textures and skybox in their E3 video, and I would know since I was a level designer and spent many months using the Cry engine toolset. If you have never tried FarCry I suggest you do, its only $19.95 right now and is a great game, ground-breaking in 2004. Though the net code could barely handle 16 players. FarCry was the first game I had played in a long time that actually made me feel as though I was immersed in a virtual world.

Oh, and 10 months ago when we decided to create our own proprietary engine instead of using the Cry engine, we of course decided to make it much more beautiful than the Cry engine :)

Damon
07-24-2006, 10:43 PM
We are going over our "high" concepts of environments now. Our world is unique and not very much Post Apoc. as in the statue of liberty is broken down with rust all over it, and hulled out skyscrapers. Some realms will be dark gothic and mysterious, and others will be so jaw dropping gorgeous you might drool on your keyboard. Well thats our "Vision" we are trying to implement. Really to be the first game that pulls on your emotions just from the colors and the contrast of the environments.

Also look at our Deva Concepts. They do not come from depressive environments, but majestic beauty and power.

Imagine standing on the edge of eternity, at the ledge to oblivion, watching as an End Storm approaches to shred the soulstream from your realm.

Justin Oaksford
07-24-2006, 11:30 PM
Yeah, I love the Deva concepts alot.. but I just wanted to share some thoughts. Alot of the colors in the concepts are really black-heavy and make it feel kinda dismal- (As a critique to the pieces themselves, not the concepts.)

Thanks for 'clearing' that up ;D (Bad pun)

Moloch
07-25-2006, 06:47 AM
Please make the KW environments thematically cohesive - geography, flora and fauna should mesh. Architecture should reflect the distinctive lore and 'culture' of each race.

While not everyone is a fan of the WOW approach, the Tauren architecture and 'culture' is a good example of a cohesive approach to the marriage of background with the look and feel of their structures.

BTW ...


Also look at our Deva Concepts. They do not come from depressive environments, but majestic beauty and power.

All the better to see them humbled.

Damon
07-25-2006, 07:07 AM
Also look at our Deva Concepts. They do not come from depressive environments, but majestic beauty and power.

All the better to see them humbled.


Oh yes they do. ;)

hanstin
07-25-2006, 07:59 AM
Can we see some Screenshots of the terrain? or maybe of a race?(it probably wont be posted but atleast its a try)

Moloch
07-25-2006, 08:50 AM
Can we see some Screenshots of the terrain? or maybe of a race?(it probably wont be posted but atleast its a try)


For concept art try here (http://mmog.onlinewelten.com/index.php?p=gallerypic&img_id=12048&galid=419&area=1#), or the Gallery link on this site's front page for a Deva Guardian and Colossus image.

Two of the Creating chaos episodes (including the latest highlights package) have the same shot of some early build terrain, and I think there was also a video showing a combat move.

Damon
07-25-2006, 08:58 AM
We are advancing rapidly with our Engine. Screenshots to come soon!

hanstin
07-25-2006, 05:05 PM
sweet ;D

jiisu
07-25-2006, 09:59 PM
Moloch, our current terrain and water effects are going to beat the pants of that older demo. =D